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There were major delays at two major border crossings in southern Ontario Tuesday night and Wednesday morning after several Canadian border officers walked off the job to protest the fact they now have to wear name tags.

Officers refused to work at the Blue Water Bridge, which connects Sarnia and Port Huron, Mich., and the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Windsor, Ont., and Detroit and is North America's busiest border crossing.

As of Wednesday morning, officials at the Blue Water Bridge reported wait times had returned to normal. The same was expected to occur at the Ambassador Bridge around noon.

Managers are now manning customs booths at Blue Water Bridge, according to Jason McMichael, first national vice-president of the Customs and Immigration Union.

McMichael said the badge number system offered a level of protection to officers.

“They’re now giving impulsive bad guys an open door into our private lives by providing them with our names,” he said. “In these days of social media, it’s very easy to find out about a person once you have their name.”

Officers also question the cost of the project, McMichael noted.

“(The government is) saying in order to cut costs, they have to cut these 1,300 (CBSA) jobs, but somehow they found a quarter of a million dollars to put name tags on us,” he said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

Truck driver Justin Martin, who was waiting to cross back into Sarnia Tuesday, watched U.S. border officers walk out of their booths around 8:30 p.m.

“We (truck drivers) all started jabbering on the CB (radio), saying, ‘It must be a shift change,’” he said Wednesday. “Then a fella came on the CB saying that border crossing guards had walked off on the Canadian side and so they shut the American gates, so trucks wouldn’t be on the bridge.”

Within 10 minutes, Martin said about 60 trucks and cars were lined up. He eventually crossed around 10 p.m.

Martin said truckers were given no warning about the protest — a particularly big problem for drivers transporting timed freight.

“A lot of companies are doing that, so they rely on a one-hour window that freight will show up in order for that assembly line to maintain movement,” he said.

Public Safety Canada spokeswoman Julie Carmichael said border officers should be treated like RCMP and other police forces who wear name tags.

“We urge these workers to air their grievances in an appropriate manner — not in a way that targets Canadian workers, travellers and Canada’s economy,” she said in a statement.

Carmichael said a four-hour shutdown at the border is estimated to cost the Canadian economy more than $130 million.